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I have found an online version of Tafhim al-Qur'an by Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi. I wonder about the general opinion of this work among Muslims.

Is Maududi's work considered authoritative as a tafsir? Are there any sects or schools of thought among Muslims that express clear opinions, positive or negative, of this Tafhim?

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    I only came in touch with it via the website searchtruth.com/tafsir/tafsir.php it was the first English Quran translation I came in touch with and as he is AFAIK a contemporary scholar I guess only a few scholars would have commented his books. IMO therefore it would be hard to say that there are clear opinions among Muslims on this tafsir. – Sassir Jul 20 '16 at 5:20
  • That is where I first found it too. I guess it's a good sign that no one has commented on his work; if he had written a really bad tafsir, it seems like there would have been widespread negative response immediately. – SaganRitual Jul 20 '16 at 5:29
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All I could say is that I found salafi pages who reject or show off some statements of Maududi which seem to "attack" or "disrespect" our Messenger for example he must have said in some of his books something like: "until now 1300 years after Muhammad we still haven't seen the Dajjal" he calls this one point where our Messenger had a false estimation or made a false prophecy as according to him he expected the Dajjal to come short after him. And of course salafi's like to show off errors in 'aqidah etc.. He also seem to have Note these are the words I found in a salfi thread about him and his books. They also pointed on his commentary on 12:55 where he interpreted that Yousouf wanted to become a dictator and compared him to Mussolini.

And in this article the Autor (a Sudanese Philosophy teacher) is criticizing the political interpretation of the Quran in his tafsir, discussing these three points, which seem to be the major views of al-Maududi:

  • Religion is (only) the utility to establish the divine government (theocracy).
  • Reduction of religion on dominion or authority and reduction of authority on it's political aspects.
  • Explaining legislation as the absolute right to create law principles.

So far the criticism.

On the other hand I really could only find general acceptance (Scholars like Yusuf al-Qaradawai, Institution like Moroccan Ministery of Awqaf ...) of his whole work, so my answer here is not on tafhim al-Quran itself, but on the whole work of al-Maududi. As it seems Sayyid Qutb in his "Fi dhilal al-Quran" (literally: In the shadows of the Quran) which is a modern tafsir and differs from classical tafsirs in the point that it tries to project the Quranic text into modern time, and reflects or interprets it from this point of view is basically following the way of Quran Interpretation of al-Maududi. The Mufti of Saudi Arabia said about it it's not a tafsir, it doesn't even try to explain the words of Quran but is explaining his shadows and what is around it (Note this is my own "free" interpretation of the quote).

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  • Thank you. I also noticed that he orders the surahs differently from the traditional or Egyptian standard orders. He seems to be closer to Noldeke's ordering. Do you have any thoughts on that? – SaganRitual Jul 20 '16 at 16:14
  • I had no idea the order of revelation was so much in dispute. Maybe that is why no one has compiled an authoritative list. Nöldeke's chronology. I would very much like to know your thoughts on it. – SaganRitual Jul 26 '16 at 12:03
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    As a first feedback surat al-Massad (111) doesn't seem to be the 3rd surah in the order. Ibn 'Achour for example says it has been reveald after al-Fatiha and before at-Takwir (81) and surat Quraysh (106) is counted as #29 before al-Qari'a (101) and after at-Tyn (95) ... it would need a study of a couple of hours or days to check this way a possible order, if one checks different sources even longer. But as said I guess the revelation order either refers to the first part of a surah being revealed or when the surah has been completed or a major part of it. – Medi1Saif♦ Jul 26 '16 at 12:55
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    Do you know what exactly defines the 4 different revelation periods? I mean the idea itself is scientific and maybe a great approach. But honestly I have some doubts whether that really applies for the "real" order itself! – Medi1Saif♦ Jul 26 '16 at 12:58

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